When does hiring your own shop delivery rider cost less?
A growing delivery-agency bill can make a dedicated employee look attractive.
Comparing only salary with the agency invoice overlooks paid weekly rest, employer social insurance, a retirement-benefit budget and motorcycle costs.
Enough monthly orders do not guarantee that one rider can handle overlapping lunch or dinner orders.
This calculator helps a restaurant or retail shop compare an agency, one employee with one motorcycle, and an employee with agency backup.
Three questions to answer
- Can the saving per delivery recover the employee and motorcycle fixed costs?
- Do employee working hours match the actual peak ordering periods?
- Does retaining agency backup for peaks and absences still reduce monthly cost?
This is a Korea-based planning comparison using 2026 labor and insurance references and amounts in KRW.
Break-even means equal cost for the same delivery volume, rather than the shop revenue needed to cover ingredients, rent and all other expenses.
Review order profitability separately with the delivery-app order net-margin calculator.
Start with deliveries, peak demand and available time
Demand inputs
Monthly deliveries should count orders that actually need a dispatch, excluding cancellations.
Peak demand share is the percentage arising during the peak periods you define.
If lunch and dinner are both peak periods, use those same periods when entering the employee peak-hours share.
Pickup orders do not require shop delivery and should not inflate this volume.
Employee inputs
Deliveries per hour should reflect waiting, collection, travel and return time, rather than riding time alone.
Absence or non-delivery share covers gaps, expected absences, training and other shop duties that reduce delivery availability.
Avoid deducting the same waiting-time loss both from productivity and from the non-delivery share.
Check that statutory or contractual breaks have not been included twice in contracted working time.
Compare matching weekdays across several weeks so one promotional surge is not treated as ordinary monthly demand.
Use safe routes and traffic assumptions with operating slack; do not assume unsafe speeds to raise employee capacity.
Salary, weekly paid rest and retirement budgeting
The Korean 2026 minimum hourly wage is KRW 10,320.
Hourly mode assumes attendance on all scheduled workdays, a comparison full-time schedule of five days and 40 hours per week, and no more than 40 employee contracted hours per week.
It adds a proportional weekly paid-rest reference before converting pay to a monthly budget.
Salary mode accepts monthly base pay that already includes weekly paid rest, with confirmed extra allowances entered separately.
Entering allowances does not automatically establish which payments count toward minimum wage or settle all statutory premiums.
Planning paid-hours formula
Weekly rest hours = weekly contracted hours / 40 × 8, if weekly hours ≥ 15
Monthly paid reference hours = ceil[(weekly hours + weekly rest hours) × 365 / 7 / 12]
At 40 weekly hours this gives 209 monthly paid hours and a minimum-wage reference of KRW 2,156,880.
At 15 hours the reference is 79 hours; at 14 hours it is 61 hours without weekly rest hours.
Actual holidays, attendance and the agreed work schedule must be checked when payroll is settled.
If continuous employment for at least one year is planned and weekly hours are at least 15, the model reserves total monthly wages / 12 for retirement benefits.
This is an expense budget, whereas actual statutory severance depends on service and average-wage rules.
If average daily hours exceed eight, or overtime, night or holiday work is planned, confirm applicable requirements and enter the agreed extra monthly allowance.
Enter confirmed employer social-insurance amounts
Enter the employer monthly amounts for National Pension, health insurance, long-term care, employment insurance and industrial-accident insurance separately.
Do not add employee contributions withheld from wages again as an employer cost.
Check whether a health-insurance notice includes long-term care so the latter is not counted twice.
Eligibility, the assessed income or remuneration base, ceilings, floors, industry classification and support can differ; a universal combined salary percentage would conceal these differences.
2026 rates are references, not a contribution bill
Employer reference rates are 4.75% for National Pension and 3.595% for health insurance.
Long-term care is health-insurance contribution × (0.9448 / 7.19), commonly displayed as a rounded 13.14%.
Employment insurance has an employer unemployment-benefit component of 0.9% and, for workplaces with fewer than 150 workers, a 0.25% employment-stability and vocational-training component.
This calculator does not automatically calculate bills from those rates; use confirmed industrial-accident contributions for the actual business classification too.
Zero is a no-expense assumption, not an approval to leave someone uninsured or a determination that an exemption applies.
Confirm employment classification, enrollment and the employer share with the responsible institution or payroll adviser before selecting the confirmation check.
Match motorcycle costs and the actual delivery-insurance use
Monthly vehicle and per-delivery costs
Use a monthly net lease cost or an economic ownership cost such as depreciation plus finance interest.
Do not add the full purchase price, loan principal and depreciation together.
Per-delivery variable cost covers incremental fuel, maintenance and consumables; exclude maintenance already included in the monthly vehicle cost.
For deposits, financing and terminal resale, use the delivery motorcycle lease vs buy calculator alongside this comparison.
Own-shop delivery versus paid transport
A salaried shop employee delivering that shop's food is not automatically classified as paid transport.
Policy wording distinguishes carriage for a per-delivery reward from forms of own-shop delivery without such a reward.
Explain the actual work and payment arrangement to the insurer, then select insurer-confirmed own-shop delivery use or paid-delivery use and enter its annual premium.
Household use or an unknown purpose should hold the hiring decision until the insurer confirms a suitable use classification.
The model divides the annual premium by 12; it does not reproduce the dates of cash payments.
Confirm compulsory cover, eligible drivers, delivery use, limits and exclusions against the certificate and wording.
A selection on this screen does not certify policy issuance, legal compliance or payment of a future claim.
Formulas for agency, direct employment and hybrid operation
Monthly fixed cost F combines total wages, five employer contributions, retirement budget, vehicle cost, annual delivery-use insurance / 12 and other fixed costs.
Let d be agency base price plus average surcharge, v be employee variable cost per delivery, and A be the agency monthly fee.
Agency only
A + all monthly deliveries × d
Average distance, late-night and bad-weather surcharges from recent invoices.
If the base price already includes them, enter zero additional surcharge.
Direct employment only
F + deliveries actually handled by employee × v
This is a full-service alternative only when no orders remain unserved.
With insufficient capacity, the model shows partial-service cost and unserved volume and excludes it from the cheapest full-service options.
Employee with agency backup
F + employee deliveries × v + remaining deliveries × d + A
The agency handles peak or absence overflow.
The hybrid model retains the agency contract, so A is payable even if no orders are outsourced that month.
Check whether your real contract has different monthly-fee or minimum-volume conditions.
Read break-even together with peak and off-peak capacity
Theoretical direct-employment break-even
ceil[(F − A) / (d − v)], with a minimum of zero
When d exceeds v, the saving per order recovers the fixed-cost difference.
If d equals v, fixed costs decide the comparison; if d is below v, increasing volume does not create a sustained high-volume advantage.
Even at the theoretical threshold, direct-only operation is infeasible if peak or off-peak capacity is exceeded.
Total employee capacity is floor[weekly hours × 365 / 7 / 12 × deliveries per hour × (1 − absence or non-delivery share)].
Peak capacity is that total multiplied by peak working-time share and rounded down; off-peak receives the remaining capacity.
Peak demand is monthly orders multiplied by peak demand share and rounded up.
Employee deliveries sum the smaller of demand and capacity in each period; spare quiet-hour capacity cannot automatically be moved into the dinner rush.
Hybrid break-even is the first whole-number monthly volume from 0 to 100,000 at which savings on employee-handled orders recover F.
Peak concentration or absences can cap those savings, leaving hybrid operation more expensive even as overall orders grow.
The model does not invent a large threshold if none is found in the search range.
Equal cost at a threshold is different from a positive cost saving.
Step-by-step use
- Gather monthly completed dispatches and a consistently defined peak demand share.
- Obtain two agency quotes with base price, average surcharge and monthly fee on the same VAT basis.
- Enter weekly hours and days, salary or hourly pay, extra allowances and intended continuous service.
- Copy five confirmed employer contribution amounts and actual vehicle and delivery-insurance quotes.
- Set safe hourly productivity, peak working-time share and absence or non-delivery share.
- Compare current costs, unserved orders and whether the theoretical threshold is within employee capacity.
- Review 50%, 75%, 100%, 125% and 150% demand scenarios and labor and insurance checks before negotiating or preparing a hire.
Initial prices and productivity values are editable fictional examples, not market averages or quotes.
Recalculate after changing assumptions and keep the comparison together with the actual quotes and work schedule.
Do not use an old result for a revised hiring decision.
Example 1: KRW 4 million fixed cost gives a 975-delivery threshold
For a simplified separate example, use F = KRW 4,000,000 and A = KRW 100,000 per month.
Let d = KRW 5,000, v = KRW 1,000 and assume enough employee capacity in both periods.
The theoretical threshold is (4,000,000 − 100,000) / (5,000 − 1,000) = 975 deliveries.
At 975 deliveries, agency and direct-only costs both equal KRW 4,975,000; a saving begins with the next delivery.
Fictional KRW costs for 1000 monthly deliveries and sufficient employee capacity| 1,000 monthly deliveries | Monthly cost | Per delivery |
|---|
| Agency only | KRW 5,100,000 | KRW 5,100 |
| Direct employment, all served | KRW 5,000,000 | KRW 5,000 |
| Hybrid, agency contract retained | KRW 5,100,000 | KRW 5,100 |
Direct-only operation saves KRW 100,000 per month, whereas hybrid cost equals agency cost because the contract is retained.
Hybrid first reaches equal cost at F / (d − v) = 1,000 deliveries, distinct from the direct-only threshold of 975.
The KRW 4 million aggregate is an arithmetic assumption, not an asserted salary or insurance market price.
Example 2: 1,000 total capacity can leave 300 orders unserved
Keep those costs and assume 1,000 orders with 50% peak demand.
Total employee capacity is 1,000, divided into 200 peak and 800 off-peak deliveries.
The employee serves 200 of the 500 peak orders and all 500 off-peak orders: 700 served and 300 remaining.
Partial-service cost cannot win a full-service comparison
Direct-only partial cost is 4,000,000 + 700 × 1,000 = KRW 4,700,000, with 300 orders unserved.
It cannot be selected as cheaper than agency cost of KRW 5,100,000 for serving all orders.
Hybrid cost is 4,000,000 + 700 × 1,000 + 300 × 5,000 + 100,000 = KRW 6,300,000.
Under these assumptions, agency-only operation costs less until staffing alignment, fixed costs or prices change.
Hybrid assumes an agency can accept the overflow.
Bad weather and holidays may constrain agency dispatch too, so confirm dispatch commitments, minimum volumes and cancellation terms separately.
Full service in the table means full service under the entered capacity model, not a guarantee of actual completed deliveries.
Interpret results and demand sensitivity
- Match service scope: direct-only operation with unserved orders is excluded from the full-service cost ranking.
Agency and hybrid alternatives assume agency acceptance of the assigned volume.
- Separate fixed and unit costs: zero deliveries can still leave wages, vehicle costs or agency fees.
Per-delivery cost is unavailable at zero volume and must not be read as zero expense.
- Equal-cost options: all alternatives tied at the minimum full-service cost remain candidates.
Review staffing responsibility, customer experience and accident exposure not monetized in your inputs.
- Lower demand: the 50% and 75% rows test whether fixed costs remain affordable in quiet months.
A hire justified only by current high demand can create an off-season burden.
- Higher demand: at 125% or 150%, employee capacity can saturate and extra orders continue to incur agency charges.
More orders do not lower every order's cost indefinitely.
If employment terms or insurance use remain unconfirmed, or the minimum-wage reference is missed, cost ranking and a hiring decision are kept separate and the decision remains on hold.
Confirmation checks do not replace official enrollment or insurer approval.
Internal calculations retain precision and displayed KRW values are rounded, so multiplying displayed unit costs can produce a small difference.
Operating scenarios for different shops
Lunch and dinner concentration
Employee availability at the exact rush periods can matter more than total hours.
Change the peak-hours share and review hybrid cost before agreeing a work schedule.
Include opening, closing or kitchen-support duties in non-delivery time when they reduce dispatch capacity.
Local retail deliveries
A few long-distance orders can raise both the average surcharge and time per trip.
Compare agency distance records with employee round-trip time before changing productivity assumptions.
A lower peak share can be reasonable for evenly distributed orders, provided actual records support it.
Seasonal or promotional demand
Calculate ordinary and quiet months separately instead of treating a promotional peak as permanent.
If you expect higher revenue, assess its real order margin separately from delivery-cost savings.
Do not make the economics work solely by arbitrarily reducing agreed employment conditions.
Agency renegotiation
Compare two actual fee schedules to see savings available without hiring.
Align distance, weather, cancellation and monthly minimum-volume conditions first.
A lower price alone does not establish equal dispatch quality or service scope.
Employment and contract limits to check
A 3.3% withholding arrangement does not determine worker status
Worker status depends on the actual relationship, including direction and supervision.
Do not remove weekly paid rest, employer insurance or retirement benefits simply by changing a contract label or withholding method.
This tool assumes an employee and does not determine worker status or the validity of an independent-contractor arrangement.
- Check written employment terms, the real schedule, breaks, attendance and applicable overtime, night and holiday allowances before hiring.
- Contribution and retirement budgets do not replace enrollment, filing, payment or final settlement duties.
Review them again if hours or intended service change.
- Align VAT treatment across wages where relevant, agency quotes and vehicle costs; tax refunds and employment subsidies are not automatically deducted.
- Ingredients, packaging, platform fees, delivery-tip income and the owner's time are not automatically calculated.
Keep any additional fixed-cost allocation distinct from related calculator outputs.
- Family relief drivers or substitute riders can affect policy driver eligibility.
Check actual use and driver restrictions on the issued certificate.
Frequently asked questions
Does exceeding break-even make direct employment preferable?
The employee must also serve all peak and off-peak demand at that volume.
Spare total capacity does not solve a peak shortfall, and direct-only operation with unserved orders is excluded from full-service ranking.
Why pay an agency monthly fee when the hybrid outsources no orders?
The model assumes the agency contract and its monthly fee are retained.
Check fee waivers, monthly minima and your actual contract before adjusting assumptions.
Is weekly paid rest added again to a monthly salary?
No.
Salary mode accepts base monthly pay including weekly paid rest.
Hourly mode alone adds the planning weekly-rest reference under the attendance and normal-schedule assumptions.
What combined salary percentage should I use for employer insurance?
No universal combined percentage is applied.
Confirm eligibility, assessed bases, limits, support and industry, then enter the employer amounts for pension, health, long-term care, employment and industrial-accident insurance without the employee share.
Does an employed rider always require paid-transport insurance?
Own-shop delivery and carriage for a per-delivery reward can have different policy-use classifications.
Describe the actual work to the insurer and confirm delivery use, eligible drivers and coverage.
Is the monthly one-twelfth retirement reserve the statutory payout?
It is a future-expense budget.
Actual severance depends on continuous service and average-wage rules, so the final amount is not guaranteed to match the reserve.
What is the unit cost at zero deliveries?
Per-delivery cost is unavailable.
Fixed wages, motorcycle costs or monthly agency fees can remain, so check monthly totals rather than treating zero volume as free operation.
Can I finalize hiring from this result?
Use the result to identify cost candidates under explicit assumptions.
Match agency quotes, the peak work schedule, employment terms, insurance use and employer contributions against real documents before deciding.
Official evidence and the 2026 review basis
Reviewed 2026-11-08 for Korean 2026 employment and insurance context, with all costs in KRW.
Current provisions and article effective dates were checked through the National Law Information OPEN API.
The planning file month 2029-07 is not a claim that 2029 law or prices apply.
- Labor Standards Act, Articles 17, 18, 55 and 56: MST285279, effective 2026-10-08; written terms, part-time work, paid holidays and wage premiums.
- Labor Standards Act Enforcement Decree, Articles 9 and 30 and Annex 2: MST270551, effective 2025-10-23; attendance and part-time employment conditions.
- Employee Retirement Benefit Security Act, Articles 4 and 8: MST284455, relevant articles effective 2026-07-01; one-year and 15-hour conditions and average-wage basis.
- Guarantee of Automobile Accident Compensation Act, Article 5: MST290659, effective 2026-10-02; the basis for compulsory insurance.
- Ministry of Employment and Labor 2026 minimum-wage notice: KRW 10,320 per hour.
- National Pension Service annual rates, National Health Insurance EDI 2026 notice and official employment-insurance rate guidance: reference rates; the individual assessed employer amount remains controlling.
- Hyundai Marine motorcycle wording dated 2026-01-01: evidence distinguishing own-shop delivery without a per-delivery reward from paid transport, rather than a promise of identical cover across insurers.
Recheck next-year minimum wages and rates, working-time rules, enrollment, retirement conditions and policy-use definitions when they change.
Agency fees, premiums, motorcycle costs and productivity are user quotes and operating assumptions, not regulated fixed market prices.
Next: align quotes with a workable schedule
Get two agency fee schedules and an insurer-confirmed delivery-use quote, then replace the example inputs.
For hiring, prepare written terms, employer contribution figures and peak coverage; continue with the lease vs buy comparison for motorcycle procurement.